Q: Do I need to release all of my medical records for a workers compensation injury?

A: 1st of all, you need to understand that your employer is legally entitled to all medical records from any care that they pay for related to your work injury, IRRESPECTIVE of whether you give them permission. Unless your work injury involves a psychological injury or other specially protected health information like HIV status, it is absolutely appropriate to withhold permission to access any such records. No other restrictions are reasonable. It is important for you to understand that nobody is interested in your medical records and it is very expensive to have someone review your medical records so if the workers' compensation carrier didn't have some good faith belief for requesting past medical records, they wouldn't. The scope of your medical records released to the workers' compensation carrier should be the least of your concerns for reasons that your attorney should be happy to explain to you. all

The fact that the medical release was sent to you confirms that you do not have an attorney. There is an old union saying: "It doesn't cost, it pays to be a member of ________ (insert name of union)." In Illinois Worker's Compensation claims, that saying rings truer that it ever did about union benefits. When you hire an experienced workers' compensation attorney, you have continuous access to someone who can actually answer your questions, in context AND Though no attorney can guarantee or assure any outcome, it is the rare exception when an experienced attorney cannot negotiate a settlement that is far more than 20% Higher than anything you could negotiate which means your worst-case scenario is a free attorney. Moreover, there are multiple options for compensating a work injury in Illinois that go far beyond dollars and cents. Don't shortchange yourself. Hire an experienced workers' compensation attorney before you do inevitable damage to your claim. Good luck.